Southland Roadie pt 1
I love a good roadie! I little under a year ago we bought a caravan with the intention of seeing more of the country, and working out if it could eventually become a full time thing for us. The jury is still out if we could make it a full time thing but we’re definitely seeing more of the country. Our first real trip away was down south. It was awesome!
Someone more experienced than us at caravan life had suggested that travelling somewhere between an hour and two hours was the sweet spot for them between stops, so we initially worked to that (and the sweet spots I had found for us to stay), but half way into the trip when we realised that meant moving every day, we changed our strategy and travelled further each day, so we could spend more nights in one spot.
The approximate route we followed on our roadie
When planning I decided to get my full geek on and put everything into a spreadsheet, with where we were staying and the travel time to each spot. It totally worked and I don’t regret it, especially since we were moving so much, but I’m excited that the next holiday we have planned there is no spreadsheet needed!
I worked out where to stay based on the NZMCA app, the CamperMate app, google maps and the Roady app by sussing out what pretty things I wanted to see, and generally staying close to water :)
Here is where we stayed and the cost at each:
Timaru Caroline bay Freedom camping (free)
Kaitiki beach north reserve freedom camping (free)
Warrington NZMCA park ($10 per night)
Ocean view recreational reserve Brighton Freedom camping (free)
Purakaunui Bay Campsite DOC campsite ($25 per night, stayed two nights)
Invercargill (free in my mums driveway)
Cascade creek ($37.50 per night, stayed two nights)
Orepuki Freedom camping (free)
Kingston freedom camp (free)
Tekapo NZMCA park ($10 per night, stayed two nights)
Total cost for accommodation for 15 nights away for 2 adults and one 5 year old child was $155
Some of the freedom camping spots we stayed were incredible! Right on the beachfront, seeing the sun rise over the sea. Just stunning! The first gallery takes us to the night in the Ocean view Recreational reserve. On the way there we also stopped at Shag Point which I had always wondered about but never had the time to stop at. It was a cool place to explore with amazing rock formations. Another stop along the way was Huriawa Pā walk which was great to stretch our legs.
We left the caravan parked up in Ocean view recreational reserve and did a short trip back to Tunnel beach. I was so stoked when low tide coincided with their opening hours and golden light! It was so beautiful. I love the photos but it also feels like the photos don’t do it justice, it was stunning! While writing this blog I actually realised the walk in was closed due to flooding the area experienced 3-4 days after we were there, and is still expected to stay closed for another few months yet.
From there we kept heading down the coast to Catlins. I love that part of the country. Just beautiful! We have done a few holidays down there in the last couple of years so had already ticked off some of the sights so thankfully I didn’t drag the family to too many places, as there was enough travel as it was! We spent a couple of night in Purakanui Bay DOC campsite. Some of the spots we explored there were Purakanui falls (an old favourite), Jacks Blowhole (a beautiful walk but the blowhole itself wasn’t so easy to see. Maybe it’s better at high tide) and Koropuku Falls. It was my first time at Koropuku falls and I absolutely loved it! A much more rustic path than the other waterfalls in the area. It was raining that day and Benny was not too happy with the whole deal. Dave carried him in the whole way so he was just worried about keeping his feet on the path and not hitting his head along the way so didn’t actually get to enjoy the scenery too much. We got in there and Dave decided to walk across the log across the river… a few steps in, and just after the below photo was taken, he slipped and got quite wet! Thankfully we had the caravan with us and he was able to get changed when we got back to the car.
After the Catlins we went through to Invercargill to stay with my Mum. Stay tuned for part 2
